Non-magnetic contact enhancement feature

ABSTRACT

A transducer having an external contact surface includes a writer and a contact member. The writer has a portion extendable beyond the external contact surface. The contact member surrounds at least a portion of the extendable writer portion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a magnetic head that includesa contact enhancement feature. In particular, the present inventionrelates to a magnetic head having a wide head-to-media contact surface.

Magnetic data storage and retrieval systems store and retrieveinformation on magnetic media. A magnetic head is supported relative toa magnetic media surface by a slider. During operation, the disc isrotated by a spindle motor which creates airflow along a storageinterface surface (SIS) of the slider from a leading edge to a trailingedge of the slider. Airflow along the SIS of the slider creates ahydrodynamic lifting force so the head of the slider essentially fliesabove the surface of the magnetic media. The distance between the sliderand the magnetic media is known as the fly height.

In a magnetic data storage and retrieval system, a magnetic headtypically includes a writer portion for storing magnetically-encodedinformation on a magnetic media and a reader portion for retrieving themagnetically-encoded information from the magnetic media. To write datato the magnetic media, an electrical current is caused to flow through aconductive write coil to induce a magnetic field in a write pole. Byreversing the direction of the current through the write coil, thepolarity of the data written to the magnetic media is also reversed.

During operation of the magnetic data storage and retrieval system, themagnetic head is positioned in close proximity to the magnetic media.The distance between the magnetic head and the media is preferably smallenough to allow for writing to and reading from the magnetic media witha large areal density, and great enough to prevent contact between themagnetic media and the magnetic head. Performance of the magnetic headdepends primarily upon head-media spacing (HMS). High density recordingpreferably requires a small HMS and a low fly height. Prior to usingeach magnetic head, there are small variations in fly height that mustbe accounted for due to changing operating conditions and head-to-headvariations.

As the need for data storage increases, the areal bit density ofmagnetic media also increases. In order to utilize the increased arealbit density of high density magnetic discs, it is necessary to reducethe fly height between the slider and the magnetic media surface.However, as fly height decreases, there is an increased possibility ofunintentional contact between the magnetic head and the magnetic media.Extensive contact between the head and the magnetic media can damage thehead and lead to loss of data. Thus, the fly clearance must be measuredfor each magnetic head by a controlled measurable non-destructivehead-media contact so that the proper algorithm for operating the heateris used for each magnetic head.

In operation, the layers of the head, which include both metallic andinsulating layers, all have different mechanical and chemical propertiesthan the substrate. The differences in properties affect several aspectsof the head, including pole tip protrusion of the metallic layers of thehead with respect to the substrate at the SIS of the head. Twocomponents of the pole tip protrusion effect exist, thermal pole tipprotrusion and current-induced pole tip protrusion. Thermal pole tipprotrusion arises from isothermal (global) temperature changes in thehead during drive operation. Current-induced pole tip protrusion resultsfrom localized heating during application of currents to the write coiland the resultant heat dissipation into the surrounding components ofthe head. The pole tip protrusion must be accounted for when determiningthe proper fly height between the slider and the surface of the magneticmedia.

The head-media contact is typically detected by a signal that changessharply when the head mechanically contacts a lube layer of the magneticmedia. For example, the signal could be ΔPES (position error signal). Inthe ΔPES method of detecting contact, when a head at skew contacts alubricant layer on the media, it is dragged off-track more than whenonly flying. To compensate for this off-track drag force, a larger ΔPESis generated by a positioning system to keep the head on track. Anothermethod of detecting contact between the head and the magnetic media isacoustic emission (AE) detection. AE detection utilizes the ultrasoundmade when a head and magnetic media come into contact. To use ΔPES orAE, the surface area of the head-media contact must be large enough sothat when the thermally protruded magnetic head hits the lube layer ofthe magnetic media, the magnetic head component protruding most at thestorage interface surface does not penetrate past the lube layer andstart burnishing on the hard media surface, destroying the protectivemagnetic head layer.

Fly height control is particularly problematic in high-density magneticdata storage and retrieval systems that use perpendicular writers. Inperpendicular writer designs, the return poles are positioned furtheraway from the primary write pole when compared to longitudinal writerdesigns. During thermally induced contact, only a small region close tothe primary write pole comes,into contact with the magnetic media.Consequently, the contact area is much smaller for perpendicular writerdesigns. Both ΔPES and AE depend on signals that are proportional to thesurface area of the contact between the head and the magnetic media.Thus, the heads of perpendicular writers result in a smaller signal foruse in contact detection by AE or ΔPES. Additional factors, such as thespeed at which the magnetic media revolves, the storage interfacesurface topology, and air bearing pressurization, can also reduce thecontact signal.

Although the feature of the magnetic head that contacts the disc musthave a large surface area to control clearance, due to processvariations, the primary write pole does not always end up as the closestpoint to the disc for all magnetic heads. This is needed to minimize theHMS between the writer and the disc. Due to variations in the relativealignment between the primary write pole and the contact point, asignificant percentage of magnetic heads have a recessed write pole,causing increased HMS of the primary write pole. Therefore, there is aneed for both enhanced contact detection between the magnetic head anddisc of a magnetic data storage and retrieval system and for improvedalignment between the write pole and the large head-media contactsurface.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the invention is a transducer having an external contactsurface and includes a writer and a contact member. The writer has aportion extendable beyond the external contact surface. The contactmember surrounds at least a portion of the extendable writer portion.

In another aspect, the invention is a transducing device having astorage interface surface and includes a writer, a write coil, and acontact enhancement feature. The writer has a pole tip region proximatethe storage interface surface. The write coil is positioned around thepole tip region and has a plurality of write coil layers. The contactenhancement feature is proximate to and aligned with the pole tipregion.

In another aspect, the invention is a transducer having a storageinterface surface and includes a plurality of thin film layers and acontact enhancement feature. The contact enhancement feature is adjacentat least one of the plurality of thin film layers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a top view of a representative magnetic head having a contactenhancement feature.

FIG. 2A is a sectional view of a first embodiment of a magnetic headhaving a contact enhancement feature prior to lapping.

FIG. 2B is a sectional view of the first embodiment of a magnetic headhaving a contact enhancement feature after lapping.

FIG. 3A is a sectional view of a second embodiment of the contactenhancement feature of the magnetic head prior to lapping.

FIG. 3B is a sectional view of the second embodiment of the contactenhancement feature of the magnetic head after lapping.

FIG. 4A is a sectional view of a third embodiment of the contactenhancement feature of the magnetic head prior to lapping.

FIG. 4B is a sectional view of the third embodiment of the contactenhancement feature of the magnetic head after lapping.

FIG. 5A is a sectional view of a fourth embodiment of the contactenhancement feature of the magnetic head prior to lapping.

FIG. 5B is a sectional view of the fourth embodiment of the contactenhancement feature of the magnetic head during lapping.

FIG. 5C is a sectional view of the fourth embodiment of the contactenhancement feature of the magnetic head after lapping.

FIG. 6A is a sectional view of a write pole of a magnetic head afterlapping but prior to a first controlled head-media contact.

FIG. 6B is a sectional view of the write pole of the magnetic head shownin FIG. 6A after lapping and after the first controlled head-mediacontact.

FIG. 7 is a storage interface surface view of a fifth embodiment of acontact enhancement feature surrounding the write pole shown in FIGS. 6Aand 6B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a top view of magnetic head 10 having contact enhancementfeature 12, write pole tip 14, and substrate 16. Contact enhancementfeature 12 serves to increase the head-media contact area of write poletip 14 and is thus positioned proximate write pole tip 14. Thehead-media contact is the first contact point between magnetic head 10and media M (shown in FIGS. 2A-4B). Contact enhancement feature 12creates a head-media contact surface that is wide enough to detectcontact between magnetic head 10 and media M before write pole tip 14penetrates the lube layer of media M and write pole tip 14 or anothercomponent is destroyed. As the head-media contact surface increases inwidth W, the chances of write pole tip 14 dipping past the lube layeronto the hard media surface of media M and burnishing write pole tip 14decreases.

To adequately protect write pole tip 14, contact enhancement feature 12has a much larger surface area than write pole tip 14. The surface areaof contact enhancement feature 12 is sized such that ΔPES or AE contactdetection methods can be effectively used. Because contact enhancementfeature 12 has a much larger surface area than write pole tip 14, asignal generated by contact between contact enhancement feature 12 andmedia M will be much larger than a signal generated by contact betweenwrite pole tip 14 and media M. Thus, the fly height of magnetic head 10can be adjusted before any damage to write pole tip 14. In oneembodiment, contact enhancement feature 12 has a surface area of about20 μm².

In operation, contact enhancement feature 12 has a height substantiallyequal to the height of write pole tip 14 and is used to indicate whenwrite pole tip 14 is in danger of contacting media M. Because contactenhancement feature 12 and write pole tip 14 have substantially the sameheight, when contact enhancement feature 12 contacts media M, write poletip 14 is also in close proximity to media M, indicating that the flyheight of magnetic head 10 should be adjusted to avoid burnishing writepole tip 14. Therefore, it is important that write pole tip 14 andcontact enhancement feature 12 are positioned in close proximity to oneanother and have essentially the same height. In one embodiment, contactenhancement feature 12 is positioned about 10 microns (μm) from writepole tip 14 and the difference in height between write pole tip 14 andcontact enhancement feature 12 is less than 1 nanometer (nm).

Contact enhancement feature 12 can be formed by a variety of designs,depending on acceptable trade-offs between the complexity of themanufacturing process and the robustness of the design. Currently,contact enhancement feature 12 is formed by building additional largermetallic components at the storage interface surface (SIS) near writepole tip 14 or by using other functioning components of magnetic head10. For example, magnetic front shields or return poles can be used ascontact enhancement feature 12. However, certain writer designs do notinclude a front shield or a return pole, in which case a non-magneticcontact enhancement feature is more desirable so that the contactenhancement feature structure does not interfere with the magneticoperations of the magnetic head. Alternatively, contact enhancementfeature 12 has also been built specifically to provide the needed wideand flat head-media contact surface. The general principle of thecontact enhancement feature is that in operation, heat will cause writepole tip 14 to expand in the fly height direction. Thus, regardless ofhow contact enhancement feature 12 is formed, contact enhancementfeature 12 is typically built from a material having a coefficient ofthermal expansion similar to write pole tip 14 so that it will expand atthe same rate as write pole tip 14 and be able to indicate when the flyheight of magnetic head 10 needs to be adjusted, protecting write poletip 14 from coming into contact with media M.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are sectional views of a first embodiment of magnetichead 10 having contact enhancement feature 12A and writer 18 prior tolapping and after lapping, respectively. Writer 18 generally includesreturn pole 20, write pole 22, write pole tip 14 located at an end ofwrite pole 22 at the SIS, yoke 24, write coil 26 (shown as write coilturns 26A, 26B, 26C, 26D, 26E, and 26F), and insulator 28. Althoughmagnetic head 10 is shown having one return pole 20, writer 18 may havetwo return poles or no return pole without departing from the intendedscope of the invention.

Return pole 20 and write pole 22 extend from the SIS and are connectedto each other distal from the SIS. Yoke 24 is formed on write pole 22but does not extend the full length of write pole 22. Insulator 28separates return pole 20, write pole 22, and write coil 26 from eachother. Return pole 20 and yoke 24 are formed from metallic ferromagneticmaterials. Preferably, each of these components is formed from an alloycomposed primarily of Fe, Ni, and/or Co which typically has a large CTE.

As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, write coil 26 has coil turns 26A, 26B, 26C,26D, 26E, 26F. Write coil turns 26A, 26B, 26C, 26D, 26E, 26F wrap aroundwrite pole 22 such that the flow of electrical current throughconductive write coil 26 generates a magnetic flux at write pole tip 14.In one configuration, coil 26 may be wrapped in the following order: 26Ato 26D to 26B to 26E to 26C to 26F. Although FIGS. 2A and 2B show coil26 to be wrapped in a helical configuration, other configurations can beused without departing from the scope of the intended invention. Eachindividual coil turn 26A, 26B, 26C, 26D, 26E, 26F is separated from oneanother and from return pole 20 and write pole 22 by insulator 28. Writecoil 26 is generally formed from an electrically-conductive metal, suchas Cu, Au, or Ag. Most commonly used is Cu, which has a CTE in the rangeof about 16.0×10⁻⁶/° C. to 18.0×10⁶⁻/° C.

Insulator 28 surrounds write coil 26 and is preferably formed from adielectric material with high thermal conductivity to facilitate theremoval of heat from write coil 26 via return pole 20 and write pole 22.Insulator 28 is preferably formed from Al₂ 0 ₃ or a photoresist having alarge CTE.

In the first embodiment of contact enhancement feature 12A shown inFIGS. 2A and 2B, contact enhancement feature 12A is formed from aluminumoxide (alumina) deposited on top of write pole 22. During manufacturingof magnetic head 10, magnetic head is formed in an argon-filledenvironment. However, because alumina is adversely affected by argon,when alumina is deposited in the manufacturing of magnetic head 10, thelevel of argon is decreased. Due to the decrease in argon during thedeposition of alumina, when the alumina is initially deposited on thewalls of a tall feature at the wafer level, it forms a mass of hardalumina 30 proximate write coil 26. In certain applications, this masshas the same height relative to the SIS as the write pole 22. The massof hard alumina 30 formed above write coil 26 shown in FIG. 2A can thenbe etched into contact enhancement feature 12A. Thus, by controlling theargon content during alumina deposition and controlling the lapping,etching, and cleaning processes used in making magnetic head 10, contactenhancement feature 12A shown in FIG. 2B is obtained from protrudedalumina above write coil 26.

Protrusion of write pole 22 may also be controlled by positioning amaterial, other than alumina, that is difficult to mill or lap duringSIS planarization close to write pole 22. The material functions toensure that write pole 22 is not over-recessed by protecting write pole22 from lapping and/or milling below the level of surrounding write headfeatures. The material can include, but is not limited to: SiC, Ta, Cr,or any other material that is difficult to mill or lap.

FIGS. 3A and 3B show a second embodiment of contact enhancement feature12B prior to lapping and after lapping, respectively. As previouslynoted, it is important to minimize the difference in height betweenwrite pole tip 14 and contact enhancement feature 12B. Because aluminatends to lap and etch differently from metal, which write pole 22 isformed from, it may be desirable to make contact enhancement feature 12Bout of metal. In the second embodiment, contact enhancement feature 12Bis created from write coil front shield 32, which is a detached writecoil turn 26G that does not carry any electrical current. Creatingcontact enhancement feature 12B from write coil front shield 32 isdesirable because it may be implemented by changing only one of themasks used in making magnetic head 10. During manufacture and prior tolapping, write pole 22 and write coil 26 are created in excess of theSIS, with the SIS line showing the location of the desired SIS, as shownin FIG. 3A. Write coil front shield 32 is formed during the lappingprocess of manufacturing magnetic head 10 when the excess structures ofwrite pole 22 and write coil 26 left of the SIS line are removed,leaving a thin layer of metal from write coil front shield 32 at theSIS, as shown in FIG. 3B. Write coil front shield 32 serves to increasethe head-media contact surface of magnetic head 10 and indicate when thefly height of magnetic head 10 relative to media M needs to be adjustedto prevent damage to write pole 22.

Contact enhancement feature 12B of the second embodiment can be made ofthe same material as write coil 26, such as copper. However, usingcopper at the SIS presents the risk of corrosion or undesirabletopography, which may make copper unsuitable for some applications. Ifcopper is not a suitable choice for contact enhancement feature 12B,then silver, which has a higher resistance to corrosion, may be used.Silver is also a suitable candidate for use in forming write coil 26because it can be readily plated and has very low electrical resistance.In addition, a designer willing to use additional photolithographicsteps can also form contact enhancement feature 12B from NiCu.

As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, if contact enhancement feature 12B formedfrom write coil front shield 32 does not have a sufficient surface areato create a head-media contact area wide enough to protect write pole22, supplementary contact enhancement feature 34 can be formed on top ofwrite coil 26 by plating another layer of metal. An example of amaterial used to form supplementary contact enhancement feature 34includes but is not limited to, Cr. In one embodiment, supplementarycontact enhancement feature 34 may also be return pole 20.

FIGS. 4A and 4B show a third embodiment of contact enhancement feature12C prior to lapping and after lapping, respectively. In the thirdembodiment of magnetic head 10, write coil refill 36 is used to formcontact enhancement feature 12C. As in the second embodiment of magnetichead 10 discussed in FIGS. 3A and 3B, when magnetic head 10 is beingmanufactured, write pole 22 and write coil 26 are created in excess atthe SIS with the SIS line showing the location of the desired SIS (FIG.4A). The area between write coil turns 26A-26C of write coil 26 isfilled with write coil refill 36. Write coil refill 36 serves as a meansto reduce the height difference between write pole tip 14 and contactenhancement feature 12C. Write coil refill 36 is formed from a materialthat is lapped and etched at a rate substantially similar to the lap andetch rate of write pole 22 and may include, but is not limited to: SiC,W, and SiN. However, although SiC, W, and SiN are each good conductors,they are poor insulators, so a layer of insulator 28 is still neededbetween write coil turns 26A-26C. A thin layer of atomic layerdeposition alumina 38 is thus added between write coil turns 26A-26C andwrite coil refill 36 to separate write coil refill 36 from write coil26. Contact enhancement feature 12C is formed during lapping when theexcess structures of write pole 22 and write coil 26 left of the SISline are removed, leaving a layer of material at the SIS as shown inFIG. 4B.

FIGS. 5A, 5B, and 5C show a fourth embodiment of contact enhancementfeature 12D prior to lapping, during lapping, and after lapping,respectively. Contact enhancement feature 12D is formed around writepole tip 14 such that write pole tip 14 is covered at the SIS by contactenhancement feature 12D. Magnetic head 10 is then heated such that writepole tip 14 and other elements surrounding write pole tip 14 arethermally protruded at the SIS. By heating the area around write poletip 14 prior to lapping, it is more likely that write pole tip 14 isproximate the SIS to form at least a portion of the head-media contactsurface. Contact enhancement feature 12D and write pole tip 14 are thenlapped and burnished until the surfaces of write pole tip 14 and contactenhancement feature 12D are substantially planar and the resultingsurface area is such that ΔPES or AE contact detection methods can beeffectively used to detect contact between contact enhancement feature12D and media M. In one embodiment, contact enhancement feature 12D isformed of Diamond-Like-Carbon (DLC).

FIG. 6A shows a sectional view of magnetic head 10 after lapping butprior to exposure to any head-media contact. FIG. 6B shows a sectionalview of magnetic head 10 after lapping and after exposure to ahead-media contact. FIG. 7 shows a storage interface surface view ofprotective material 40 surrounding write pole tip 14. Protectivematerial 40 (FIG. 7) is designed to provide a small protrusion for writepole tip 14 after the lapping process. Write pole tip 14 is initiallymade such that it always slightly protrudes from a plane defined bycontact enhancement feature 12E. During a first controlled head-mediacontact (made by heating, reduced air pressure, or other means), theprotruding part of write pole tip 14 is burnished off to a heightsubstantially equal to a height of surrounding contact enhancementfeature 12E (FIG. 6B). After write pole tip 14 is lapped and milled,write pole tip 14 still protrudes towards media M to a greater extentthan contact enhancement feature 12E, but only slightly. Once write poletip 14 is burnished, write pole tip 14 is no longer detrimentally pushedtowards media M during thermal expansion.

While write pole tip 14 is being burnished, its protective cover ispartly or fully removed, making write pole tip 14 more susceptible tocorrosion. Thus, burnishing should occur immediately before or duringthe first electrical testing performed prior to building magnetic head10 into a disc drive. In addition, magnetic head 10 may need furtherprotection from corrosion until magnetic head 10 is built into the discdrive. This can be accomplished by using an easily burnishable film totemporarily protect burnished write pole tip 14 from corrosion betweenthe time the burnishing occurs and the time the disc drive is assembledand sealed. For example, a protective film that may be used is aSelf-Assembled Monolayer (SAM) film that is readily deposited in gasform, yet can be tailored for specific chemical and mechanicalproperties by manipulating backbone chain lengths as well as functionalend groups. Another example of a protective film is a SeaWax-type headlubricant.

Protrusion of write pole 22 relative to contact enhancement feature 1 2Ecan be achieved by putting protective material 40, which is moredifficult to lap and/or mill than write pole tip 14 during planarizationof magnetic head 10, proximate to write pole tip 14. However, the amountof protective material 40 is still very small so that it is burnishedoff to the level of contact enhancement feature 12E at the same timethat write pole tip 14 is being burnished. FIG. 7 shows an exemplaryembodiment of protective material 40 positioned proximately write poletip 14. Protective material 40 may be formed of any material that islapped or milled at a slower rate than other features of magnetic head10 exposed at the SIS, including, but not limited to: SiC, Ta, and Cr.

The magnetic head of the present invention comprises a contactenhancement feature for increasing a head-media contact surface of amagnetic head at the storage interface surface to detect contact withmagnetic media. A write pole tip of the magnetic head is typically usedas the head-media contact and needs to be protected from burnishing as aresult of contact with the magnetic media. The head-media contactsurface created by the contact enhancement feature protects the writepole tip, as well as other components of the writer. The contactenhancement feature is positioned proximate the write pole tip and has alarger surface area than the write pole tip, helping to create a widerhead-media contact surface around the write pole tip at the storageinterface surface. Due to the larger surface area of the contactenhancement feature, damage to the write pole is avoided because themagnetic media will contact the contact enhancement feature before itcontacts the write pole tip.

Although the present invention has been described with reference topreferred embodiments, workers skilled in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made in form and detail without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

1. A transducer having an external contact surface, the transducercomprising: a writer having a portion extendable beyond the externalcontact surface; and a contact member surrounding at least a portion ofthe extendable writer portion.
 2. The transducer of claim 1, wherein theextendable writer portion has a coefficient of thermal expansion and thecontact member has a coefficient of thermal expansion, and wherein thecoefficient of thermal expansion of the contact member is approximatelyequal to the coefficient of thermal expansion of the extendable writerportion.
 3. The transducer of claim 1, wherein the extendable writerportion has an external surface area and the contact member has anexternal surface area, wherein the external surface area of the contactmember is larger than the external surface area of the extendable writerportion.
 4. The transducer of claim 1, wherein the contact member has aheight approximately equal to a height of the extendable writer portion.5. The transducer of claim 1, and further comprising a write coilstructure, wherein the contact member is formed at an end of the writecoil structure.
 6. The transducer of claim 5, and further comprisingalumina deposited on the write coil structure, wherein the contactmember is formed from the alumina.
 7. The transducer of claim 5, andfurther comprising a write coil front shield, wherein the contact memberis formed from the write coil front shield.
 8. The transducer of claim5, and further comprising a write coil refill within the write coilstructure, wherein the contact member is formed from the write coilrefill.
 9. The transducer of claim 1, wherein the contact member isformed over the extendable writer portion.
 10. The transducer of claim1, and further comprising a protective material positioned proximate theextendable writer portion.
 11. The transducer of claim 10, wherein theprotective material is selected from the group consisting of: SiC, Ta,and Cr.
 12. The transducer of claim 1, and further comprising acorrosion protection layer positioned proximate the extendable writerportion.
 13. The transducer of claim 12, wherein the corrosionprotection layer is selected from the group consisting of: aself-assembled monolayer film and a SeaWax-type head lubricant.
 14. Atransducing device having a storage interface surface, the devicecomprising: a writer having a pole tip region proximate the storageinterface surface; a write coil positioned around the pole tip region,the write coil having a plurality of write coil layers; and a contactfeature proximate to, and aligned with, the pole tip region, the contactfeature being formed with respect to the pole tip region.
 15. The deviceof claim 14, and further comprising alumina deposited on the write coil,wherein the contact feature is formed from the alumina.
 16. The deviceof claim 14, wherein the write coil comprises a front shield, andwherein the contact feature is formed from the write coil front shield.17. The device of claim 14, and further comprising a write coil refillpositioned between the write coil layers, wherein the contact feature isformed from the write coil refill.
 18. The device of claim 14, whereinthe contact feature is deposited around the pole tip region.
 19. Thedevice of claim 14, wherein the contact feature is formed of a materialselected from the group consisting of: Diamond-Like Carbon and Cr. 20.The device of claim 14, wherein the pole tip region has a coefficient ofthermal expansion and the contact feature has a coefficient of thermalexpansion, and wherein the coefficient of thermal expansion of thecontact feature is approximately equal to the coefficient of thermalexpansion of the pole tip region.
 21. The device of claim 12, andfurther comprising a protective material positioned proximate the poletip region.
 22. The device of claim 12, and further comprising acorrosion protection layer positioned proximate the pole tip region. 23.A transducer having a storage interface surface, the transducercomprising: a plurality of thin film layers; and a contact enhancementfeature adjacent at least one of the plurality of thin film layers. 24.The transducer of claim 23, wherein the plurality of thin film layershas a coefficient of thermal expansion and the contact enhancementfeature has a coefficient of thermal expansion, and wherein thecoefficient of thermal expansion of the contact enhancement feature isapproximately equal to the coefficient of thermal expansion of theplurality of thin film layers.
 25. The transducer of claim 23, whereinthe plurality of thin film layers comprises a pole tip region, whereinthe pole tip region has a surface area and the contact enhancementfeature has a surface area, and wherein the surface area of the contactenhancement feature is larger than the surface area of the pole tipregion.
 26. The transducer of claim 23, wherein the contact enhancementfeature is formed over the pole tip region.
 27. The transducer of claim23, and further comprising a protective material positioned proximatethe pole tip region.
 28. The transducer of claim 27, wherein theprotective material is selected from the group consisting of: SiC, Ta,Cr, a self-assembled monolayer film, and a SeaWax-type head lubricant.29. The transducer of claim 23, and further comprising a corrosionprotection layer positioned proximate the pole tip region.